Trial for man charged with battery underway

Published
12:00 am CDT, Tuesday, April 22, 2014

EDWARDSVILLE — A prosecutor claimed Tuesday that a Godfrey man broke a bar stool over his girlfriend, but the alleged victim took the stand to deny it.

Scottie M. Musgraves, of the 500 block of Grace Street, Godfrey, is on trial on a charge of aggravated battery after the victim, Malaya Collins, of the same address told a nurse and a deputy sheriff that the blow from the bar stool put a big gash in her hand.

The alleged attack was in January in the Grace Street home.

The nurse and the deputy both testified Tuesday that they were told by Collins that Musgraves was responsible for the injury to her hand and other injuries.

Collins testified that she was injured when slipped on ice outside the home.

Collins testified Tuesday she lied earlier but did not come forward with the information that she lied for three months. She denied having talked to Musgraves in the time between the alleged crime and Tuesday.

Collins said she told Musgraves’ lawyer that she had lied previously, and she thought that was sufficient. She said she lied to the nurse and the officer because she wanted the nurse to call the sheriff’s office, and she wanted Musgraves out of the home because of a domestic quarrel.

Assistant State’s Attorney Crystal Uhe in her opening statement that Musgraves was drunk, walked into the alleged victim’s bedroom, punched her in the face, the beat her with the stool, which broke into several pieces. The hand wound required four stitches.

Defense attorney Kelly Sullivan said Collins was “in a royal rage” and slipped on ice as she was leaving the house.

Deputy Larry Butkovich testified he saw the wound and it was consistent with a defensive wound; however, it could have happened in some other way.

“She said she was struck with a wooden stool,” he testified. He testified that Collins said nothing about slipping on ice.

He took pictures of the broken stool and blood in the bedroom, but he did not check for blood on the stool.

Nurse Heather Durham, who was on duty at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Alton, said she noted the hand wound and swelling on the arms. She did not see bruises on the face but said bruises sometimes take days after a blow to appear.

Collins testified that Musgraves is the father of her 12-year-old son, but their relationship has been off-and-on. She said that in January, they had been living together “since he came home from prison.”

Court records show Musgraves has felony convictions of aggravated discharge of a firearm, two counts violation of probation, a state charge of possession with intent to deliver a a controlled substance, delivery of cocaine, being a felon in possession of a weapon and a federal charge of possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

The trial is scheduled to conclude Wednesday before Associate Judge Neil Schroeder.